1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for composing music data, and a machine readable medium containing program instructions for realizing such an apparatus and a method using a computer system, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method capable of composing music data representing a piece of music or a tune without requiring a trained skill of playing a keyboard musical instrument or other musical instruments.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Among conventionally proposed apparatuses capable of composing music data for a piece of music or a melody (tune) by simple operations, there has been such a type of apparatus in which a user inputs a short melody motif, and then the apparatus extracts characteristic features of the given melody motif and imparts a chord progression for the entire music to be composed, thereby creating a melody based on the extracted motif characteristics and the imparted chord progression. With such a type of apparatus, the user can compose a melody by merely inputting a melody motif to the apparatus.
The device for inputting a motif melody may be a keyboard or other performance operation devices for performing music in a real-time manipulation of the device, or may be a device having switches to designate note pitches and note durations in a step-by-step manipulation. In the case of a keyboard or other performance operation devices, it is difficult for beginners to input (play) even a short melody of a motif by manipulating a performance operation device such as a keyboard in a real-time musical performance. In the case of a switch arrangement for designating note pitches and note durations to constitute a motif melody, the inputting operation will be easy but it would be hard for the user to reflect the melody image he/she has in mind into the switch manipulation.